Technical interviews have long been used for assessing candidates for software engineering roles in industry, but given the recent advent of generative AI tools, a growing number of instructors have been investigating their role as an assessment in the computer science classroom. As a type of oral assessment, technical interviews dynamically evaluate students’ ability to not only demonstrate technical skills but also communicate about their problem-solving approaches. However, there are some concerns about equity and accessibility in designing and implementing technical interviews, such as how language proficiency, neurodiversity, and familiarity with the interview format might affect a student’s performance.

In this Birds of a Feather session, we welcome educators who are interested in designing and implementing technical interviews for their courses, as well as students and professionals with technical interview experience from industry. We intend to briefly share experiences from the discussion leaders about implementing technical interviews in specific course contexts, as well as facilitate conversations about what best practices for designing fair and effective technical interviews.